Baking
by Fizzy Starburst
Summary: Humanized. Marlin comes home one night to find Dory baking. Somehow, the plans of baking cupcakes are scrapped in favor of a kitchen war. Dorlin. Oneshot.


**AN: Alright, so this is my first attempt at Finding Nemo, and my first attempt at humanizing anything. So, constructive critisim will be much appreciated. I also feel I should point out that this looked a lot longer on Works Word Processor. I obviously don't own Finding Nemo. If I did, Dorlin would be cannon.**

Marlin walked into his home, expecting it to be a rather calm scene. After coming back from his job as a physiotherapist, he expected to come home to his Nemo at soccer practice, and Dory, his best friend who'd been living with them since the incident, to be watching Jeopardy, as she always did. However, what he saw a deserted living room. Confused, he made his way to into the kitchen.

What he saw in there was a strange sight indeed. A floral print apron held on to the tall brunette's slender frame, atop her head was a large, messy bun. There was trays, mixers, and mismatched ingredients all over the table, as she twirled around, trying to remember what tasks she had already started, "Dory, what are you doing?" Marlin questioned.

"I'm baking." she responded, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He quirked an eyebrow before asking "Yes, but _why _are you baking?"

"Nemo's soccer team is having a bake sale." she elaborated.

This just confused him even more "Why didn't I know about this?"

"Because you're a lousy cook." she replied absent mindedly, "Now where did I leave the blender?" she mumbled under her breath.

He handed it to her, before asking "Wait, you don't like my cooking?"

"No one does. Except for you, but don't take it personally." she replied with a shrug, "Why do you think Nemo and I always opt for microwave dinners?"

"So he asked you to bake instead?" he asked, hoping for clarification. Dory simply nodded in response. Secretly, he wasn't all that surprised. He knew Dory was like a mother to Nemo, who never actually knew Coral, and most kids had their mother's bake for this sort of thing. Still, it had a hurt him to not be asked. "Well, then, what are you baking?"

"Cupcakes!" she responded with that same dazzling smile that she got when she remembered something important, or when she won a game. "At least, I think I was making cupcakes…."

Marlin chuckled slightly in spite of himself. "Do you want me to help you with anything?"

The furrowing of her brow told him that she was considering the pros and cons to his proposal. Just the thought of that made him smile. "Nope." She responded with a shrug.

"Ouch!" he responded, in mock pain. She just rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at him, as though they were children. A warm and fuzzy feeling hit Marlin as she did. All her little quirks - that's why he fell in love with her. Yes, it still sounded weird to him, even if it was just in his head. After all, he had only come to the realisation about a month ago that he'd been in love with her for years. But he couldn't even admit to himself out loud, let alone to anyone else. Pushing all thoughts of romance aside, he said "C'mon, you must need help with something!"

"Are you challenging my baking skills?" the brunette questioned as she raised one eyebrow.

As Marlin's eyes quickly darted around the room, he responded, "No, of course not." Eggs. Perfect.

As he picked up the carton, Dory's eyes quickly filled with fear. "Marlin?" she questioned, "What are you doing?"

A twisted smile appeared on his face, as he replied in a sickeningly sweet sing song voice, "Oh, nothing."

"Put those down!" she pleaded.

The short redhead shook his head, "No, I don't think so." Dory wanted to ask him for forgiveness, but the next thing she knew, shiny raw yolk was dripping down her chocolaty brown hair. "Oops." Marlin chuckled as he watched it drip down. Instead of yelling at him, or freaking out, Dory remained calm, reached behind her, and heard the satisfying _smoosh _noise of pink frosting making contact with Marlin's face. "Oh, it's on."

Within moments an entire stick of butter was launched at Dory's face. "Ow!" she cried, "That one actually hurt!" Her retort was to throw an entire bag of flower on him.

Now dusted with the white powder, he grabbed the cup of milk Dory had been previously measuring, and poured overtop her head. "This should help get the egg out!" he managed to get out between his seemingly endless laughter.

The battle continued on. Cocoa, vanilla extract, and yeast were launched with great velocity. Bowls and trays were used as shields. The two were having a blast, laughing while chucking ingredients at the other's head. That was, until, Dory slipped on an egg that had opened on the floor, causing her head to hit the corner of the cupboard. "Oh my god!" Marlin gasped, "Are you okay?" He rushed to her side, and held out his hand. She obliged, and he pulled her up off the floor.

Dory's eyes then scanned the kitchen. "Woah." she whispered. "We really made a mess!" she giggled.

Marlin smiled along with her before responding, "Yeah, I guess we did." It was only then Marlin noticed just how close to her he was standing. The warm, fuzzy feeling was back, and much stronger than before. As much as he tried to shake it, he couldn't help but notice how soft her lips looked.

As silence fell over the pair, he felt a gravitational force pulling him towards her. She didn't seem to mind, as he swore she slowly began to move towards him. _'This is your chance' _he thought, _'Just go for it. What've you got to lose?' _He slowly began to move his arm, in hopes of gently caressing her face, but he didn't make it more than two inches before the two heard the door swing open.

The ten year old looked around. The kitchen was a disaster, both his father and Dory were filthy, and they were standing unusually close to each other. "What's going on in here?" he questioned.

"We're baking!" Dory responded with her usual amount of pep.

Nemo continued to look around curiously, "Ooookaaaay…." he noticed his father's sheepish grin. "Well, I'm going to go watch TV and do my math homework, if either of you need me."

As the young boy left, Marlin looked around the room, before turning to his friend and suggesting "We should probably clean this up."

"But…" the brunette began. Marlin raised an eyebrow as if to say 'but what?' "But I didn't finish the cupcakes!"

Marlin chuckled softly, "How about we leave those for another day. I don't think you'll be able to bake much in this mess."

"Okay," she complied, "But remind me that they need to be done by Saturday, okay?"

"I'll remind you." he promised. "How about you start on the dishes, while I got get the cleaning supplies from the bathroom?" he suggested.

As Marlin left the room, and she started washing out the dishes, she mentally scolded herself. _'You should've gone for it.' _she told herself, '_You should've kissed him.'_


End file.
